What happens when a big rig jack-knifes?

Question

What happens when a big rig jack-knifes?

Answer 1

It's called jack knife because the trailer and the cab of the truck slide sideways and "fold up: onto each other.  It looks like a pocket knife trying to close but gets stuck half open.

Answer 2

A tractor trailer jack-knives when, during hard braking (actually skidding), the trailer moves sideways, similar to a pocketknife closing.

This happens because the inertia of the trailer overcomes the friction of the trailer weight and tries to travel faster than the stopping tractor.

This is a dangerous situation, specially for traffic traveling the opposite direction

Answer 3

The trailer tries to pass the tractor when you hit the brakes.

Answer 4

There are many reasons why it happens but if the trailor brakes don't come on slightly before  the tractor or evenly then the trailor trys to swing around the tractor.

Answer 5

The real answer is: traffic gets all messed up. Real bad.

Answer 6

all goes to h**l...    and some people too

Answer 7

The Reason why, is Drive wheels on the tractor lose there grip on the road and slips sideways the trailer then pushes the rear end into the slip, the tractor is then pushed around so that the cab is squashed into the trailer.